We know that the first commander of the Air Force of New China was General Liu Yalou. This was personally chosen by the Central Committee and Chairman Mao. Among so many generals who can fight a good battle, why did liu Yalou be selected as the commander of the air force?
There are many reasons for this. First, like the commander of the Navy and the commander of the armored corps, the commander of a large armed force like the Air Force must be selected from the commanders of the large corps. In other words, only a general who can command a large corps of fighters can serve as the commander of a large army.
Why? As a commander of a large army, you must be able to adapt to the operation of a composite army. Liu Yalou obviously met this condition, because he was the commander of the Fourteenth Corps and the commander of the most powerful Fourth Field Army.
There is a second point, which is also quite important, like Xiao Jinguang and Xu Guangda, Liu Yalou once went to the Soviet Union to study. It was in 1938, the War of Resistance Against Japan was in full swing, and the domestic battlefield was exactly when it was necessary for generals to kill the enemy, but Liu Yalou could not go to the battlefield.
Liu Yalou first stayed in Yan'an to run education, and then he was sent to the Soviet Union. As a general, Liu Yalou was actually more willing to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, but there was no way, this was also an order from the central authorities. As a result, Liu Yalou disappeared from the domestic battlefield for seven or eight years.
Liu Yalou had at least three important gains in the Soviet Union, one of which was that he entered the highest military academy in the Soviet Union, the Frunze Military Academy. In this military temple, Liu Yalou learned advanced military knowledge. Second, Liu Yalou learned Russian, was able to communicate with the Soviets in Russian, and there were really not many founding generals who could speak Russian.
Of course, there is also the third, that is, Liu Yalou established his own connections in the Soviet Union, and after graduating from study, he also interned in the Soviet army and participated in the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. In this process, Liu Yalou became familiar with the Soviet army and became familiar with the Soviet military generals.
These are very important for Liu Yalou to be able to become the commander of the air force of the new China, at that time the Chinese air force was poor and white, mainly relying on Soviet assistance and relying on the help of big brothers, and Liu Yalou, the commander of the air force, was good at communicating with the Soviets and was relatively easy to be accepted by the Soviets.
Of course, there is a third reason, Liu Yalou has work experience in the Air Force. What's going on? When we were still in the northeast, our army founded an aviation school, which was the first air force academy. Liu Yalou personally served as the principal.
Speaking of the Northeast Aviation School, it was really very difficult to run, but Liu Yalou was able to do it after all, and only he had experience working in the Air Force, which was also the most direct reason for selecting Liu Yalou as the commander of the New China Air Force.
What is less known is that at the beginning, Liu Yalou was not very willing to accept this appointment from the central government. Why? First of all, because I don't understand, I am afraid that I will not do a good job, the Air Force is a blank piece of paper, that is, starting from scratch, it is really "empty".
Liu Yalou was under great pressure, and he was really afraid of not doing a good job and failing to live up to the heavy trust of the Central Committee and the Chairman. Secondly, from the heart, Liu Yalou is a general, he is more eager for the battlefield, in the northeast battlefield, he has long served as the chief of staff of the field army, did not make meritorious contributions to killing the enemy on the front line.
It was not long before Liu Yalou commanded an army of 100,000 people to go south to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions. The chairman took his army and said, You have done ideological and political work for so many years, do you still want me to do your ideological and political work now?
With the chairman's words, Liu Yalou could no longer shirk and resolutely assumed the post of commander of the Air Force. Liu Yalou is of course an excellent air force commander, although he started from scratch, the Chinese Air Force soon made a wonderful appearance on the Korean battlefield and shocked the world.